Q&A: Alley, Whitmire are vying for seat

Thursday

Oct 18, 2012 at 6:46 AM

By NATHANIEL AXTELLTimes-News staff writer

Whoever wins the race to represent District 113 of the N.C. House will be doing a lot of driving, just as Democrat George Alley and Republican Chris Whitmire have done as they've campaigned across the far-reaching district.

The 113th stretches from Sapphire in western Transylvania county, across southern Henderson County and all the way to Sandy Springs in eastern Polk county. In Henderson, it includes 10 voting precincts: Armory, Atkinson, Crab Creek, East Flat Rock, Etowah South, Etowah Valley, Flat Rock, Green River, Horseshoe and Raven Rock.

Whitmire, who currently chairs the Transylvania County Board of Education, defeated incumbent Trudi Walend in a close race for the GOP nomination, taking 51 percent of the vote. Alley was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Democrat George Alley Age: 47 Occupation: Resigned from his post as park superintendent for Harmon Field in Tryon to run for office.

Experience: Former executive director of the American Red Cross, Polk County chapter; former athletic director for Carolina Classical School; former executive director of Carolina United Soccer Club; vice president of Striving Towards the Educational & Athletic Development of Youth.

Experience: Current chairman of the Transylvania County Board of Education, on which he's served for six years.

What should the General Assembly do to bring more jobs to the 113th and to WNC as a whole?

Alley: The General Assembly should refocus our economy by recruiting jobs in high-growth industries and retraining our workforce. This can be accomplished by partnering with schools, community colleges and the business community to fund infrastructure projects, review regulatory codes, and put the long term unemployed back to work.

I would also work to support our agriculture, equine and camp industries, as they are important assets that have a substantial economic impact on our region.

Whitmire: North Carolina is currently driving industry and manufacturing away with a corporate tax rate of 6.9 percent, the death tax and burdensome gas tax of 37-plus cents per gallon, which is more than double adjoining states. Our residents struggle with unemployment/underemployment and commute considerable distances to work.

As a small-businessman, my No. 1 objective is to apply common sense and regain North Carolina's competitive advantage. We must lower the corporate tax rate, reduce unnecessary regulation and eliminate the death tax to bring industry and manufacturing home. North Carolina pales in comparison to adjoining states. South Carolina is thriving and has a corporate tax rate of 5 percent, no death tax and a gas tax of 16 cents/gallon. Correcting these discrepancies will bring jobs and must begin as soon as possible!

What changes would you like to see in the way local public schools are funded and for how teachers are held accountable for student performance?

Alley: The state matrix for funding public schools is complex, but there is one area in particular that I would like to address. Discretionary funding is a chunk of money appropriated to school districts during the budget process, but then requested back later. The decision of where to cut funds is left to each locality.

This is a political shell game devised to give the illusion that schools are fully funded and local districts are given flexibility. Let's be honest with our schools and citizens and appropriate the necessary funds to operate efficiently. In terms of teacher accountability, this is an area where I would like to see some flexibility given to local school districts. This would allow leadership and staff to come together and discuss standards and the evaluation process, allowing teachers input into their assessment.

This would help increase “buy-in” from teachers while providing agreedupon accountability targets for leadership.

Whitmire: North Carolina should reward highperforming public schools and not penalize them. Currently the state's lower-performing systems receive more state money per pupil than high-performing ones. Today's funding formulas essentially “rob Peter to pay Paul” and the top performing systems in the 113th get shorted. This in turn costs every local tax payer because local funds have to make up the shortfall.

As the Transylvania County Board of Education chairman for the past four years, I know this firsthand and will address this discrepancy. As an individual who appreciates educators and the school systems of the area and the numerous accomplishments that they achieve, I will seek to ensure they are properly funded.

As far as teacher accountability, I will endeavor to ensure the upcoming accountability measures are fair and accurate so our dedicated educators can focus on preparing our nation's future leaders and not be distracted with “administrivia.”

What means of energy production within the state would you support and what limits, if any, should there be on energy extraction?

Alley: Along with a commitment to renewable energy sources, accessing our state's oil and natural gas resources should be a part of our long-term energy plan.

While the technological and regulatory environment for fracking has matured recently, I think we need to do a better job of mitigating the impacts of fracking not only on our water table, but also on the infrastructure surrounding the drilling sites.

Frankly, I am also not convinced that the estimated oil or shale supply warrants the investment at this time. I would rather we dedicate our resources to converting more of our state fleet to utilizing our existing national supply of natural gas.

Whitmire: The strength of the U.S. economy is the backbone of our nation's instruments of power to include our military, foreign policy and a host of other incredibly important categories including environmental stewardship.

As we (as a nation) are further gouged by petroleum producers and subsequently spend ourselves into deeper economic disarray, our economic situation and strength further declines.

Given our current state of affairs, now is the time to tap domestic natural gas and oil sources and enable supply-and-demand to alleviate the situation.

Specific to North Carolina, offshore drilling is one viable means to relieve some of our needs, and we have the ability to drill responsibly. Additionally, actively pursuing environmentally safe methods to harvest natural gas is another means that must be pursued.

As far as limits, harvesting domestic energy sources must be accomplished with proven methods to ensure we protect our environment and prevent undesired repercussions.

Does North Carolina need a voter ID law?

Alley: N.C. Board of Elections Director Veronica Degraffenreid states, “People are concerned about voter fraud, but... we are not finding evidence of (such fraud).” (Charlotte Observer 9/24/12). Electoral fraud such as manipulating the vote count or demographics, disenfranchisement, intimidation and vote-buying has a greater impact on election results and should be addressed through comprehensive reform, not through a strict voter ID law that is perceived to be a voter-suppression tactic.

Not to mention that strict voter ID laws are currently being challenged across the U.S. and are wasting taxpayer dollars in litigation. So the question becomes, how do we protect the integrity of the election process without making it harder for citizens to participate in our democracy?

Whitmire: Yes! I absolutely support voter IDs so our elective process is fair and accurate. When your vote and mine is canceled by subversive activities such as those witnessed in the ACORN scandal in the 2008 presidential election, measures to restore validity to the process MUST be taken.

The vast majority of Americans already have photo IDs, and for the extremely small percentage of individuals who do not, it is extremely feasible for the state to facilitate such. This said, the 2013 legislative session will diligently pursue voter IDs so our elections accurately reflect the will of legitimately registered citizen voters.

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